FROZEN Is An Instant Disney Classic
Frozen (2013) — **** I wasn’t planning to see Frozen, let alone write a positive review of this new animated Disney musical. The truth is I haven’t wanted to see a Walt Disney Animation Studios film in years. It’s been more than a decade since anything watchable came out of that studio and almost 20 years since they produced anything that could be considered a classic. Well, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen achieves this and more. It doesn’t just capture the spirit of the late-80s and early-90s animated musicals from the Mouse House; it reaches their level of greatness. The film tells the story of two royal sisters in the kingdom of Arendale, one of whom has the power to create ice and snow. As a child, Elsa (Idina Menzel), the...
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THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Ablaze With Blockbuster Filmmaking
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) – *** As far as blockbuster sequels go, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is about as good a follow-up as we can expect these days. The Empire Strike Back, it is not. But the second film in The Hunger Games series is great is ways the first film isn’t. And it’s lacking in many ways the first film is. But if there’s one constant between this film and it’s predecessor, it’s the consistently outstanding Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence returns here as Katniss who is back in District 12 after winning the 74th Hunger Games with her fellow tribute, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). The pair are getting ready to embark on the annual Victory Tour, when Paneem autocrat President Snow (Donald Sutherland) pays her a visit. After her victory by apparent defiance of the Capitol...
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Sony Plans A Greater Cinematic SPIDEY-Verse
Marvel and X-Men both have their own cinematic universes at Disney and Fox, respectively. And Sony Pictures doesn’t want to be left out of the action. The studio’s Entertainment chief Michael Lynton to analysts yesterday that there was a bigger Spidey-verse in the works, which hero and villain spin-offs from the current The Amazing Spider-Man iteration, saying: “We do very much have the ambition about creating a bigger universe around Spider-Man. There are a number of scripts in the works” With the success of Marvel’s The Avengers, it only makes sense that studios would milk their superhero cash cows, especially when there are so many heroes and villains at their disposal. Fox was the first to catch on to the Marvel formula and has turned X-Men into a cohesive universe even across time periods. And Sony is well on their way, with teases of...
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Guillermo Del Toro Says There’s A Plan For DC Properties at Warner Bros.
The last time we heard Guillermo del Toro talk about Justice League Dark, his film adaptation of the DC super team of Swamp Thing, The Demon, John Constantine, Deadman, The Spectre, Zatara and Zatanna, he said the film was in “very active development.” But that was during Pacific Rim press and he’d probably have said anything to keep all eyes on that movie. The bad news is there’s nothing else to say about Justice League Dark‘s progress, but in an interview with Cinefilos.it, del Toro had a few things to say about Warner’s grand plan: “We’re still on (Justice League Dark), writing, and hopefully it will happen but there are no developments that are new. We’re still at Warner Bros., they are making plans for the entire DC universe. All the superheroes, all the mythologies, and part of that is Justice League Dark....
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12 YEARS A SLAVE Is Exploitation Masquerading As High Art
12 Years a Slave – ** Director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is a horrifying motion picture in two ways. First, it lays bare the brutality of slavery in a way rarely, if ever, seen on film. It’s graphic, often disturbingly so, but that leads right into number two. The experience of watching 12 Years a Slave is uneven, falling somewhere between seeing a torture porn horror flick and a classic historical melodrama. It’s like a combination Django Unchained and The Passion of the Christ without all the fun. That makes it hard to take seriously. And 12 Years a Slave is a serious motion picture to a fault. In its attempt to be the Schindler’s List of American slavery, the film overreaches, developing what can only be called a sadomasochistic relationship with the audience. (This isn’t the...
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STAR WARS VII Gets An Official Release Date
It’s going to be a Merry Christmas in 2015 for Star Wars fans. Disney announced today that Star Wars: Episode VII will bow on Dec. 18, 2015, confirming earlier reports that the first film in the sequel trilogy would become the first Star Wars film to premiere outside of May. So who’s the big loser today? Warcraft. The Universal and Legendary Pictures fantasy epic based on the highest-grossing video game in history previously announced that it was taking Dec. 18, which really is the only date for a blockbuster release in that month. Now the film, which is being directed by Duncan Jones, will likely have to find a release date. But who cares? We have real Star Wars news. And J.J. Abrams, who took over writing the film with Lawrence Kasdan, officially has a date that he needs to hit in order to make fans happy. Well, fans and Robert...
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